American Fight Clubs – First Person Festival

WHAT:  American Fight Clubs
WHO:  Jim Lommasson
TYPE OF EVENT:  Visual Art
WHEN:   Friday, Nov. 7
The exhibition will be on display in the Painted Bride Gallery during the Festival and through December 20, 2008.  5:00 PM – 9:00 PM

Exhibition Opening 6:00PM – 7:00 PM

Reception and discussion with Jim Lommasson
Admission: FREE

WHERE:

The Painted Bride
230 Vine Street
Philadelphia, PA

DESCRIPTION: In American Fight Clubs, photographer Jim Lommasson presents a photography exhibition drawn from his acclaimed book Shadow Boxers: Sweat, Sacrifice & the Will to Survive in American Boxing Gyms – a portrait of the tender and
brutal private life in America’s inner city boxing gyms in all their “glorious grunge.” With a foreword by Smokin’ Joe Frazier and essays by a team of award winning writers, Shadow Boxers captures the fierce beauty of these vanishing institutions, giving readers an unflinching look at the brutality of the sport but also its grace, its
poetry, its blood-and- bone humanity.

Lommasson will share the story behind the ten years he spent traveling to boxing gyms across the country, including such local landmarks as the famed Blue Horizon
and the Front Street Gym, at a First Friday preview and reception on November 7.
ABOUT THE ARTIST: (Homebase: Portland, Oregon) Jim Lommasson is a freelance photographer working in the ‘concerned photographer’ tradition. He is currently working on a book project about American soldiers from the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars and their lives after their return from war.
WEB: www.lommassonpictures.com, www.stonecreekpublications.com/shadow-boxers.htm

PRESS: Reviews of Shadow Boxers: Sweat, Sacrifice & the Will to Survive in American Boxing Gyms

“Both up to the minute and timeless, his pictures are also affecting, intricate and sometimes just glorious.” – Time Magazine

“When I look at Jim Lommasson’s pictures I see myself as a young man working out day after day in that little PAL gym in Philadelphia where my career started. This book shows a side of boxing that most people don’t see – the dedication and discipline that it takes to be a champion in the ring and in life.”
– Joe Frazier, former world heavyweight boxing champion
Gritty, grimy and gorgeous. Lommasson’s images move beyond the easy, one-sided spectacle of boxing as a blood sport and toward a multifaceted depiction of the boxing gym as a unique and beloved American institution. Visceral and quietly dramatic, the photos are … a lively cross-breed of art and journalism.” – “This collection is especially wonderful and amazing.” –  The Oregonian

TICKET INFO:  FREE. Tickets for other Festival events can be purchased online at
www.firstpersonarts.org or by calling (267) 402-2055.